Paraskevidekatriaphobia On the 3rd of Ramadan

What on earth am I talking about? But once you can pronounce the word, you're cured. It’s a morbid, irrational fear of Friday the 13th, but not for me. Although it was quite surreal this morning when I got out of bed and there was a ladder in the spare bedroom. Huh??? Just remembered that the light bulb on top of the landing died last night. Phew…. :-)

Today is also the 3rd day of Ramadan. So far so good. As usual, I’d my headphones on and listened to the recitations of the Quran on-line at work. I tried listening to about 3-4 sura or chapters a day and insyaallah, hoping to complete listening to the Quran during Ramadan. There are 114 suras altogether.

"The month of Ramadan is the one in which the Quran was sent down, a guidance
for mankind, clear proofs for the guidance, the Criterion; so whoever amongst you
witnesses this month, let him fast it."

(Surah al-Baqarah 2:185)

I had my return to work interview with SH. It’s a crazy procedure because I’d already submitted a sick note from the doctor and I’m already fit to work . All I need is assistance to carry the unprocessed books from the shelf and the completed ones onto the trolley. I’m very thankful to my colleagues who did this for me.

I was late on my first day at work. We left at the usual time and it was a smooth journey until we were on the Fletchamstead Highway. We were stuck here for 40 minutes. WTF… As we inched on s-l-o-w-l-y, we could see why. Last minute 'nip ins'. I bet you know what I’m talking about. A queue of traffic and some selfish idiot, in this case idiots, decide to drive past it, blocked the whole road and nip in at the front, often right before the roundabout. Then they have the nerve to abuse you when you don't let them in. Babe said that this had happened to him soo many times. Do they think we were queuing for fun?

Worst still, the police station was just opposite the roundabout. I’d  sent them an-email requesting a visible presence of a policeman. Not 24-7, just during the rush hours. I did receive acknowledgement but nada, zilch, zero action taken. We were just waiting for a major accident to happen.

I then found out that Gibbet Hill Road was completely closed at the junction with Kenilworth/Coventry/Stoneleigh Road, meaning it won’t be possible to access the Gibbet Hill campus or main campus from Kenilworth/Coventry/Stoneleigh Road. Apart from the University, this road also leads to the business and science parks. There were also essential roadworks taking place on the Stoneleigh Road. Did anyone reached their office on time…

It got so bad that morning that National Grid have postponed the roadworks until next week. They wanted to complete what they had done on Kenilworth Road. Why didn’t they think about this much, much earlier? Then from the local paper, I found out that road resurfacing works will be carried out on Four Pounds Avenue. We think they got the wrong road. Moseley Avenue needed serious work done more urgently. Thankfully, it was the school break and the other alternative road wasn’t too bad.

On Wednesday, I sat down in anticipation of the friendly football match between England and Hungary. What was I expecting? Like other supporters, atonement for the sins of early summer. Prove that it was a one-off. It was a feeling best articulated by a banner updating Churchillian rhetoric: “Never have the few given so little for so many.”

Some lively football actions were displayed, just lacking an end product. Despite the changes and the bright start, England fell into the same patterns of lack of creativity and lack of interest at times. I sigh with great relief when Gerrard saved England with a double after Hungary went in front with a goal that stirred memories of Lampard's strike against Germany.

It was good to see the likes of Young, Johnson, Walcott and Gibbs get some game time. What about Fulham’s, Zamora? I really like his game. This was going to be a transitional period for England, one where Capello needs to shuffle his pack and try different options to find the perfect blend. I think we should moved on from the World Cup. So let's just try and support the team and help them going forward shall we?

Babe took all these beautiful photographs in Brandon Marsh. I haven’t taken any photographs at all for the past 2 weeks and it was driving me mad. I’m hoping to use my Panasonic this weekend which is much lighter than the D50. I need to get my photography fix ASAP.

Have a lovely weekend.